


Quiet in the Shadows

by lakeghost



Series: Word of the Fates [3]
Category: Castlevania (Cartoon), 悪魔城ドラキュラ | Castlevania Series
Genre: Alternate Universe - Ancient Greek Religion & Lore Fusion, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Blood Drinking, Gen, Half-Vampires, Heavy Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Idiots in Love, Inner Dialogue, Inspired by Eros and Psyche (Ancient Greek Religion & Lore), M/M, Mild Blood, Other, POV Alucard | Adrian Tepes | Arikado Genya, Slow Burn, Vampire Turning, fangst, tfw u wake up and ur bf is chewing on ur arm, this is p much just a fangst fic with some plot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-21
Updated: 2020-06-21
Packaged: 2021-03-04 02:41:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,333
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24836323
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lakeghost/pseuds/lakeghost
Summary: We've heard what Trevor has to say - but there are some details he may have left out.Adrian's POV while Trevor was out of commission during the events ofShips in the NightChapter 4
Relationships: Alucard | Adrian Tepes | Arikado Genya/Trevor Belmont
Series: Word of the Fates [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1506287
Comments: 2
Kudos: 42





	Quiet in the Shadows

**Author's Note:**

> I'd recommend giving _Candle in the Dark_ and _Ships in the Night_ a read before this; it may still make sense, but I think it would be a bit more enjoyable with the backstory.
> 
>   
> Please enjoy!

It was taking too long. Adrian paused to look again at Trevor’s limp, ravaged body, then resumed his pacing.

_It’s not as though you have a metric. How long_ should _this take?_ Adrian shook his head. He knew, logically, that thinking about what might go wrong wasn’t going to improve the situation, but it wasn’t as though there was something actionable he could do. He’d started to clean away the blood and sweat that had accumulated in Trevor’s last hours, but it began to feel too much like cleansing a body before burial. He settled for stripping the bed and clearing away the most offensive detritus.

Adrian recrossed his arms as though it would do something and stopped again. _You didn’t give him enough blood, you imbecile. Did you consider how much healing his body needs to do?_ He pressed his lips into a thin line _. Of course not - you were too distracted with your fucking teeth in his throat, you -_

A rapid knock cut off the momentum of his thoughts. “Master Tepes? Do you need anything?”

“Nothing has changed in the past hour, Mina. No, I do not need anything.” He kept his eyes on Trevor.

After a beat, Mina replied, tersely. “Of course.” She paused for a moment, unseen behind the closed door. “I’ll still inform you that it’s late morning, sir.”

Adrian heard her begin walking away, only now fully realizing he’d been having a conversation with another person, and that he’d just snapped at her for doing her job. He winced and stepped to the window, pulling aside the curtain to confirm that, yes, it was in fact late morning. He’d been pacing most of the night.

At a brisk stride, he quickly caught up to Mina in the hall. “Please accept my apologies. I forgot myself, for the moment.”

Mina nodded, more tentative than Adrian was expecting. “Grief is difficult.” She shifted her weight. “Does the estate have its own plot? From what Ami has told me, the plague has its claws in the village. They may not have much space.”

Adrian blinked. “It’s only been a day.” He didn’t know whether he was reacting to the possibility that Trevor was dead or the explosiveness of the disease. In either case, he was digging his heels into the dirt against the flow of time. His mind was spinning.

“I know this is hard to hear, but the lethality of the symptoms will work in your favor. It’s fast and brutal, and therefore obvious.” Adrian wanted to return to Trevor, but he had a moral obligation to help these people. He knew little, but the townspeople knew less. Trevor had a lifeline no one else did.

“I suppose that makes sense. But no one I’ve spoken to has seen anything like this before. It’s not the ague or pox - we’re helpless. Is it out of line to ask if you can bring Ami back onto the staff earlier than planned?”

Adrian solemnly lowered his eyes. “Not at all. In fact, I meant to contact her and Andrei today, before the morning escaped my notice. You’ll need the wages. From what I’ve seen, this plague will burn fast and hot. The scarring will come from the impact on the food surplus. When I was speaking to Lyda, it seemed the rats had already ruined much of what was prepared for the winter; it can only have gotten worse. I’ll depart for the village as soon as I’ve resolved the situation with our Belmont.”

Mina was nodding the way a person might tap their foot - reflexive and nervous, a bit impatient. “Not to be indelicate, sir, but what do you plan to do with the body? Lyda and I burned the pyres for the bodies at the lighthouse, like you said. Should I start gathering more wood?”

Adrian met the dark-haired woman’s eyes firmly. “Thank you, Mina. I can imagine it’s difficult to depart from your traditions, particularly on behalf of strangers.”

“I’d be lying if I said Lyda wasn’t a part of my motivation.” Mina glanced away and Adrian noted the barest suggestion of a blush over her cheeks.

He smirked. “Of course.” After a settling breath, he continued. “I have reason to believe Trevor may have survived his brush with Thanatos. To be candid, I’m not as sure as I would like to be. It’s not exactly a science.” Adrian realized he was about to unload more of his heavy heart than Mina needed to deal with and the moment, and drew short.

Mina pulled her eyebrows together in puzzlement. Adrian smiled apologetically and allowed his lips to part, exposing his fangs. After a beat, Mina seemed to connect the dots, and nodded slowly.

“Is there anything you need from me, now?” She scratched unconsciously at the fresh scab in the crease of her elbow.

“Not at the moment, thank you. I’ll come find you if things change.”

Adrian reassured himself that this was going to be fine by recognizing Mina’s confidence in him. He could at least manage the situation enough that she believed he had some authority, and that itself was a comfort.

They parted ways in the hall, Mina to her chambers and Adrian back to Trevor’s bedside, both waiting to see what the coming hours would bring.

***

The bite in his arm was surprising more than it was painful. Suddenly awake, Adrian tried to stand and pull away only to be yanked sharply back into his seat by Trevor. He winced and looked down at the Belmont tearing at the flesh of his arm. Adrian was so awash with relief and shock that the viciousness of the action didn’t much register.

Adrian must have fallen asleep at some point, slumped in the chair at the foot of the bed. He’d wanted to be there when Trevor woke up, to reassure him, but Adrian had been nervously pacing for over two days, and at some point after returning from his emergency trip to the village, his mind had decided it was time for rest. Adrian had no sense of time, other than the fact it was dark.

Trevor’s eyes were screwed closed and smeared with blood, and from his kneeling position, he clutched Adrian’s arm to his chest with hooked claws. He was like a teething babe, chewing as much as he pulled mouthfuls of the sustaining blood.

Adrian steeled himself. He could endure this a few more seconds.

Adrian had been concerned he wouldn’t take blood right away, and that he’d have to wait until Trevor was fully conscious again to persuade him. It was easier this way, if he could start building back the necessary strength in this newborn fugue state. Ideal, even, if this was his first blood, something alive and approximately human.

Adrian extended his free arm to touch the side of Trevor’s face, coating his fingers in his own dripping blood. Not-quite-Trevor was so focused on clinging to life - this thing he needed like water or air - he didn’t react when Adrian brushed the red-matted hair away from his forehead. Under his own pale fingertips, Adrian noted the chill of Trevor’s skin, the absence of the fluttering heartbeat to which he had grown so accustomed.

Returning from distraction, Adrian began to feel light-headed.

“Trevor?”

He got no response. Trevor stopped actively tearing into the skin a moment ago, so Adrian had a chance at healing before he bled out. Trevor had missed anything vital in his desperation.

“Trevor, if you need blood, I can help you, but I can’t keep feeding you myself right now. You’re hurting me.” At this, the hunter paused and further contorted his face. He started to pull away from the dripping limb and whimpered slightly.

Adrian slid down from the chair to sit across from Trevor and carefully pulled his arm the rest of the way free, pressing the wound to his own chest. He kept his hand along Trevor’s cheek, watching as the man pressed his nose to the bared wrist.

Carefully, Adrian traced his hand down over the man’s neck, over the curve of his shoulder to rest on his chest. He paused when Trevor whimpered again.

“I need a moment to heal, love. Patience.” _Thank fuck Trevor wasn’t going to remember this._ He sounded like a lovesick fool. Which, in a sense, he was. A lovesick fool who thought he’d never see his beau again, and was currently recovering from moderate blood loss.

Adrian continued tracing his hand along Trevor’s stomach to his waist, further reaching to grasp his wrist where it hung lamely by his side. He turned over the Belmont’s hand, inspecting the bladed nails and new pallor while he waited for his own arm to knit back together. Trevor’s hands still looked like his own, despite the changes. The skin was still calloused and thick, the same patchwork of silver-red scars dusted over his knuckles. He wanted Trevor to see, to prove to him that he’d survived his ordeal.

“Trevor? Can you open your eyes?” Adrian kept his voice low, but Trevor still winced at the volume. Adrian rubbed his thumb over the back of the hand clasped in his own. He chuckled softly. “This time, I’m going to be the blind one. You’ll be able to see me more clearly than I ever could you.” He hoped the smile on his voice was audible, even at a murmur.

The hand he was holding responded, joined by its partner as Trevor recognized his control over his own limbs.

Tentatively, Trevor blinked his eyes open, the sensitive pupils immediately drawing in tight and showcasing the vibrant red that ringed them. Adrian nodded gently, merely trying to communicate that he was a safe presence. Trevor kept his eyes on Adrian’s face, assessing something unknowable.

Adrian could feel that his arm was nearly healed, and much of his blood had regenerated. He imagined Trevor would need sleep soon, considering how dazed he still looked. His body had come a far way, and there was still more to go.

Adrian unpeeled his bitten arm from where it had stuck to his shirt and hooked it over Trevor’s shoulder. Trevor started to turn toward the arm, immediately interested, and Adrian pulled him into a one-armed embrace. The hunter’s face settled along his neck, and Adrian could feel his own jagged pulse against the cool skin of Trevor’s temple. He didn’t have to voice his invitation for Trevor to dig into the thin skin there, less savagely than before, but not yet tender. They were both in need of practice.

***

Adrian stood restlessly outside the sickroom door. He had convinced himself that it was to consider whether Trevor was ready, but he knew that was a lie. In the intervening days, Trevor had returned to himself. After that first night, he was talking again, and the evening after, was back to playful teasing. Of course, he still had moments where he would become disoriented, or startle himself into silence, but all told, he was taking it in stride, as much as he could be expected to. Adrian looked again at the chalice of blood in his hands. He’d intended to harvest from the horses, but when Andrei caught him inspecting the veins of a particular roan, he’d offered to assist. As much as Adrian wanted to decline, it was probably best for Trevor to wean his way onto animal blood, if that was what he preferred. As he bandaged Andrei’s arm he made explicitly clear that this was not to become a pattern. He appreciated the generous offer, but this wasn’t part of the staff’s duty. Andrei claimed he’d lost a hand of cards to the man a few weeks ago, and he was just paying off his debt.

With a deep breath, Adrian entered the room.

“I think it’s time, yes?”

“Think?” Trevor’s tongue stumbled over his new teeth. _You should tell him about when your fangs grew in, Adrian_. He started walking to the bed. _About the fact you had elocution lessons for years, and how much you used to cut your tongue and lips on them. Would he find it patronizing, to be compared to an adolescent? Discouraging?_

Everywhere he looked was unexplored territory, and while it was exhilarating to consider how this changed their relationship, it was equally unsettling.

“Well, I haven’t exactly done this before, have I? His voice was sharper than he intended. Adrian stood still, hesitant.

Trevor narrowed his eyes, pulling the velvet red of his stare to an edge. Gooseflesh rose on Adrian’s arms. _Fuck_.

Adrian considered that this was really not the time to discover how much feeling like helpless prey aroused him. _Belmont might enjoy it though_ , he pondered. He looked down at the vessel of blood in his hand. _Focus_. He realized Trevor was still speaking.

Trevor sighed. “These are going to take some getting used to.” Adrian looked back up to see the man running his tongue over the blades of his teeth. “Fuck.”

Adrian grinned. “Hopefully I get some credit now for speaking as clearly as I do.”

Trevor waved his hand dismissively. Some of the tension in his shoulders lifted. “Eh, I’ve heard clearer.” He smirked. “And I think you’re forgetting the mead incident.”

Adrian rolled his eyes and took a seat beside Trevor on the bed. He kept his hand over the mouth of the cup. He’d captured Trevor’s attention with something other than blood, for the moment. Hopefully this meant he wouldn’t overthink this.

“Once. Still, evidently, too much to live down.”

Trevor took a deep breath. Adrian watched his pupils dilate slightly as the scented air filled his lungs. The hunter exhaled slowly.

“Did I ever tell you that when I first woke up in here, that first night after you dragged my ass out of the rain, I thought I was dead?” Trevor maintained a relaxed demeanor but kept his eyes on the floor in front of them.

Adrian couldn’t help but frown slightly. “No, I don’t believe you did.”

Trevor nodded. “It was like my mind was just floating in the room and looking at my body. Whatever you put on my leg, that and the blood loss, probably, made my body feel distorted, like it didn’t completely belong to me.”

Adrian let his eyes fall to the same patch of rug Trevor was staring past. He stayed silent, working against his instinct to immediately respond with a quip or a comfort. It seemed like this needed to be said.

“I was like that with this, a bit. But that feeling hasn’t gone away.” Trevor turned. “I don’t have a heartbeat, Adrian. It takes a second before you realize what’s missing, but once you notice it’s uncanny - like when all the animals get quiet before a storm. It’s all I can hear. That absence.” His expression was pained, like he wasn’t sure whether he was supposed to have shared.

“I wish I had some better to say than ‘I’m sorry’.” Adrian kept his voice level and low. Trevor nodded again.

“How long will it be like this?” Trevor hardened his features with resolve.

“I’m afraid I don’t understand.” _For fuck’s sake, he’s clearly hurting. Why can’t you understand? It was foolish to think you could do this, push him into a dark room where you straddle the threshold, try to help him while you keep one foot outside._

Trevor huffed a laugh and shoved at Adrian’s shoulder. “Take a deep breath, there. It’s just - “ he twisted his face in thought, “I think it’s that I don’t have a timeline. It’s not as though I wasn’t damned before, and I’ve never been great when it comes to vices.” He flicked his eyes to the vessel still untouched in Adrian’s lap. “But what I can’t handle is feeling like I’m trapped in my body, or trapped in my head with all this new stuff that feels much, much stronger than me. If I’m learning a new weapon, I know how long it’ll take to get a feel for it, I can get a sense of what I need to do to be faster, more accurate. I have similar experiences to compare it to. But I’m in the dark with this.” He gestured at himself. “And as I understand it, vampires have something of a long lifespan.” He offered a floppy smile that eased the panicked voice in Adrian’s head.

The blond man cleared his throat softly. “This half of my heritage didn’t fully manifest until I was nearing adulthood, growing from a boy to a man. I recognize it was a smaller change than what you’re facing, and occurred over months rather than a few blurry days, but if there’s any consolation I can offer, it’s yours.”

“Well, let's start with dropping the ‘business voice’ and speaking to me like ‘Trevor your confused life partner’ and not ‘Trevor the grieving new vampire’.” He raised his eyebrow in a challenge.

“As you wish, Belmont.”

“Better.” Trevor’s eyes seemed magnetically drawn to the cup again. “I assume that’s for consumption, and not just some sick prop to test my self-control.”

“Why would I need to test that? We already know you have none.” Adrian smiled and removed his hand. The wide mouth of the hammered metal encircled the dark contents. He handed the cup to Trevor, who hesitated a moment before taking it in his hands.

“What, no pomp and circumstance?” Even as he quipped, Adrian watched Trevor’s eyes track the swirl of the liquid.

Adrian shrugged. “I don’t see why there should be. There’s nothing extraordinary about taking a meal.” He had no idea if his nonchalant demeanor was doing anything to assuage Trevor’s trepidation.

“You first.” Trevor held out the cup, his eyes narrowed.

“Pardon? Do you think I would go through all this trouble to keep you alive, then turn around and poison you?”

It was Trevor’s turn to shrug. “You do plenty of shit that’s needlessly complicated.” His eyes fell to the tepid blood. “It smells weird,” he said by way of explanation.

“Bad?” If some amount of human squeamishness lingered in Trevor’s conscious mind, as occasionally did with young vampires, this was going to be much more difficult.

Trevor frowned. “Just … dead, I guess.”

“I can get you something alive if you prefer. If you think you can restrain yourself, I may be able to enthrall someone for you.”

“Whoa now, that’s moving a little fast, don’t you think?” Trevor’s voice was defensive, but he was clearly swallowing back the saliva that pooled in his mouth at the idea.

“You asked how long this will take - getting comfortable with the fact this is what your body needs is a significant part of that. You need the physical substance and the psychic aspect, and there are options in how you satisfy those needs.” Trevor began to look uncomfortable. Adrian kept his voice unapologetic, and Trevor seemed to appreciate the candor. “This isn’t you crossing a threshold; it’s acknowledging you’re already through the door.”

“I can’t really argue with that,” mumbled Trevor. _Not that it’s stopped you before_.

Adrian smirked. This was enough to tip the scales, and with a silent toast, the man slung back the contents in two horrifyingly large mouthfuls.

“You’re a savage, Belmont.”

Trevor had a stupid smile on his face that made Adrian’s pulse quicken. 

“And whose fault is that?” Trevor cocked his head and his smile widened. “Is that your heart? Fucking hell.”

Adrian covered his face with his hand. _I’m not getting anything past him now._ Adrian considered how he could play this to his favor. _Just wait until he’s reintroduced to forks._ Adrian smiled at the thought of Trevor banging his big stupid teeth on silverware.

“I know that looks means you’re scheming, but I’m choosing to ignore it.”

“Already, you’re becoming wiser. Amazing what some blood can do.” Adrian felt the tension evaporate from his shoulders when Trevor laughed.

**Author's Note:**

> So ... I've been throwing plot spaghetti at the wall for _Word of the Fates_ for literal _months_ now and nothing has stuck. I wrote this as an exercise to see if anything came of it (I had a lot of fun writing self-indulgent vampire angst. This should surprise no one)  
> I have a ton of scraps and snippets at this point, but it's not as cohesive as it needs to be. All this is to say, I'm really interested in what folks who've read the previous installments in this series have liked, and what you'd like to see more of. A midquel covering the time between _Candle_ and _Ships_? More adventures of vampire!Trevor? Something else entirely?  
> This is a fun universe to write in, and I'd love to explore it more. All comments are greatly appreciated!  
> -Ghost


End file.
